Charity

The traditional antidote against excessive selfishness is to wake up to the need of universal welfare. A whole world flourishing with all creatures striving for mutual welfare is a sure way to inner peace and mental satisfaction. In this respect it is significant that charity and giving to the needy has become a mainstream activity in most developed nations. People in all layers of society have not just given on an ad-hoc basis, but have also created larger or smaller organized initiatives so as to make the world a better place. We are happy with this development and do not in any way tend to re-develop the wheel.

However, similar to what our founders at Parmenion Group experienced in asset manager selection, we see also here that there is a big difference between the absolute number of charitable activities that are undertaken and the sub-set that can be qualified as ‘effective’. It is therefore that Triple F Foundation has come up with the concept of ‘best-of-breed’ charity through a ‘portfolio’ of activities that i) ensures that we do not have to add unnecessary management or operational layers internally; ii) we work with ‘the best’ when possible, i.e. we give to existing charities; and iii) add direct projects (as opposed to giving to existing charities) when needed.

By doing so we create a mix of involvement in larger and smaller projects for our donors, with the mission of Triple F always at the forefront of anything we do.

As explained under ‘Mission’ Triple F Foundation concentrates its activities in three focus area:

Emerging (and Frontier) Countries;

Emerging Entrepreneurs

Emerging Gender

Within these focus areas we like to link to the following global ‘themes’:

The Changing World

Sustainability

Education and Development

This means that charities selected by Triple F will at least cater to one of these global themes.

General

Triple F will select – within each of the three distinguished focus areas (Emerging Countries, Emerging Entrepreneurs, Emerging Gender) – 1-2 ‘best-of-breed’ target charities. These target charities are existing foundations/NGOs that according to the Triple F board do an excellent job in supporting the needy within the fields defined within their mission statements. With these mission statements of course aligned with (parts of) the focus areas defined by Triple F itself.

Between 50 and 75 percent of our charitable budget will go to these 3-5 target charities. The remaining 25 to 50 percent will go to direct projects brought to Triple F itself. This combination of direct and indirect charity investments ensures that we will be able to a) keep overhead low; and b) ensure that all of our focus areas and themes will be covered. Triple F believes that this is in the best interest of its donors.

Note: This structured approach is also used as part of our so-called ‘Purification’ work for Parmenion Group’s ethical funds (see also our paragraph below on Purification; EVD clickable link to PURIFICATION). These ethical funds are based on ‘fair’ investing, i.e. they comply with the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investing while at the same time being Shariah-compliant, i.e. approved by our Islamic scholars. The charities and projects picked as part of our Purification version of the structured approach will meet this double compliance.

Philanthropy

It is a good sign that quite a few of the wealthiest people on earth concluded that giving away all or part of their wealth is much more rewarding than just amassing even more wealth. A growing number of family offices across the globe follow the examples of Bill and Melissa Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and many others.

Philanthropy is not just about ‘giving’ to good causes, it is often also about ensuring that the net present value of what is being given is optimized. The idea is NOT to spend all the available money as quickly as possible to one or the other charity, but to create a cash flow stream to charities and direct projects of choice. In other words: philanthropy is about the selection of the right portfolio of good causes that fit your charitable goals AND a solid investment strategy.

Triple F Foundation works as advisor to Parmenion Ethical in the latter’s philanthropy service offering. (link to ethical website EVD; philanthropy page).

Note: we understand that you might like our mission statement and structured approach to charity, while having other ideas about the ‘investment’ side of things, i.e. prefer to work with us directly instead of a solution via Parmenion Ethical. This is possible since we operate on the basis of total independence. We do (co-)create tailor-made philanthropic solutions in collaboration with best-of-breed investment managers for portfolios of US$ 15 million or more.